I appreciate @1alexhemingway.bsky.social’s consistent advocacy for non-market housing without downplaying market housing or the broader supply shortage. By covering not just zoning but also suppressed household formation, this is pretty much the gold standard for left-YIMBYism.

“Please slow down. Speeding is totally bad. Pretty please.” That’s the kind of tough enforcement that drivers respect!

Related to this, I would like to point out that Canadians do not actually say “aboot”. Canadians do pronounce “about” differently. It’s a sound phenomenon called Canadian Raising. But “aboot” is an American mishearing/exaggeration of Canadian English, not how people actually say it naturally.

Don Davies, NDP interim leader, gave an extremely funny speech at the Parliamentary Press Gallery Dinner recently. (The NDP is Canada’s social democratic party. They lost a lot of seats this recent election — a less than inspiring leader plus people coalescing around the Libs to stop the Cons.)

i do think that we don't pay enough attention to the separatists in Alberta

its not great™️ that the US' stated aim is to control greenland. But also that everyone is slowly working on "takeover greenland" "takeover canada" policy in the background

Related to this, I would like to point out that Canadians do not actually say “aboot”. Canadians do pronounce “about” differently. It’s a sound phenomenon called Canadian Raising. But “aboot” is an American mishearing/exaggeration of Canadian English, not how people actually say it naturally.

automating your transit system is inherently good.

Had to check if this was real and sorry for sharing here but this is the most fucked up country. These are official government accounts. Holy freaking hell.

Chicago is one of the relatively few cities in North America with protected bike intersections! Now a councillor wants to dismantle parts of one of them to better accommodate drivers.

I like the idea from @familycycles.bsky.social / @nicthedoor.bsky.social of just referring to a bakfiets as a box bike in English. More straightforward and accessible to regular people. Makes it seem less foreign and exotic. Avoids confusion about the plural.

I find it funny how I’m perceived as very positive/optimistic in the urbanist space. From my perspective, I complain about things all the time. Housing, Doug Ford, REM de l’Est, cities that don’t plow sidewalks, Doug Ford. I’m just positive compared to people who are almost exclusively negative.

Who needs to get around in winter anyway? This is TMR, a neighbourhood of Montreal (technically its own municipality) that can be pretty unpleasant and dangerous to bike to/through in my experience.

Chicago is one of the relatively few cities in North America with protected bike intersections! Now a councillor wants to dismantle parts of one of them to better accommodate drivers.

Seattle’s Link Light Rail (1 Line) is crazy long. 66 kilometres (41 miles) in one mostly straight line!

Does anyone know when we’re going to get the mode share data in Montreal broken down by borough? From the 2023 ARTM Origin-Destination study.

The Sud-Ouest borough has committed to snow clearing of a longer section of the Lachine Canal, from 2.4 km to a total of 5 km!

TIL that the Guardian Angels, a crime prevention group in NYC (red hats), briefly inspired a similar effort in Montreal, which focused on the metro. Not sure how much crime there was though. In 1983, NYC saw 1,622 homicides. More than double the number of homicides in all of Canada that year (682).

Inaccurate headline? That is literally the headline of your article. I just copy-and-pasted it. It does in fact say: “Alberta renters don’t need more ‘supply’ — they need non-market housing options” If it doesn’t represent your thoughts, you should get it changed.

Interesting to look at the Green Line (LRT) in Minneapolis, which was criticized for its slow average speed (16 km/h) at opening in 2014. They’ve since improved to 22 km/h, although still lower than their goal at the time of 27 km/h. (Starting at 10 mph, currently 14 mph, previous goal of 17 mph.)

The post I was quoting got removed, but this is the article saying "Alberta renters don’t need more ‘supply’ — they need non-market housing options”. There’s *no* reason that advocacy for non-market housing should downplay or be put in opposition to the importance of overall supply.

“Alberta renters don’t need more ‘supply’ — they need non-market housing options” I wish people arguing for additional non-market housing could do it without downplaying total/market housing supply like this.

I really hope not just to see improvements on Finch. But also that other cities intent on building trams (like Montreal) learn lessons from this. We can’t spend this much money without speed improvements! We need strong transit signal priority, etc.

NEW: This video by @ohtheurbanity.bsky.social might get more views because it’s being called a “beef” between 2 big urbanist YouTubers, but that was the least interesting part of it for me. What I like is how it shows HOW FAST MONTREAL HAS BEEN TRANSFORMING! Best city-building in North America.

What are your strategies for reducing your exposure to US politics in your media consumption?

Saw both of these within less than a quarter mile of each other. Cars just aren’t practical here. We have winter.

Borrowed a Box Bike from @familycycles.bsky.social I have to admit, I was sad to say goodbye after only 7 days... youtu.be/u8Yx7ZebXuo?...

Montréal veut beaucoup de tramways au cours de prochaines décennies, selon le PUM 2050. Est-ce qu’on a retenu les leçons de Toronto avec le Tramway de Finch West? Est-ce que les trains seront rapides? Ou est-ce que des bus lents seront replacés par des trains lents?

The experience of using transit is just so much better with modern technology that tells you which routes to take and how long you have to wait. I’m not that old but I remember calling numbers at bus stops to get the scheduled (not actual) arrival time!

Every winter day above freezing feels like spring.

I can’t believe we’re headed for a world in which Alberta holds a referendum on leaving Canada. Particularly in the context of threats and attacks from the superpower next door.

Cars just aren’t practical here. We have winter. www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGOY...

The experience of using transit is just so much better with modern technology that tells you which routes to take and how long you have to wait. I’m not that old but I remember calling numbers at bus stops to get the scheduled (not actual) arrival time!

This speech is making it perfectly clear that you are allowed to think that everyone who voted for Trump is stupid.

Really good article on the Eglinton Crosstown and Finch West Tramway: “The dream, or more accurately the fantasy, of fast, inexpensive light rail gliding down Toronto’s streets will be dead on arrival, as a burned public re-evaluates the return on its investment in a once-promising technology.”

Speed Matters. Some thoughts about transit and speed, life, space and time. open.substack.com/pub/marcochi...

It’s amazing reading anti-SkyTrain talk in Vancouver. “This gives modern LRT a tremendous flexibility in operation and is the main reason why it made SkyTrain (ALRT) obsolete in the mid-1980s.” (2018)

Big credit to Mayor Cam Guthrie (@camguthrie.bsky.social) of Guelph, Ontario for using strong mayor powers to reinstate funding for winter clearing of the city’s bike network! Snow clearing is the essential factor, without which people can’t even consider biking in the winter.

It’s much harder to see street design in the winter, but this bike lane extension and expansion of the sidewalk has been completed! (Rue de Champlain, Montreal — approaching from opposite direction)

I have *zero* personal criticism of NJB (or anyone else) for moving to a different country. It’s a perfectly valid thing to do. But it’s also a relatively rare/difficult thing to do. His channel grew big on “here’s how the Netherlands changed” rather than “here’s how to get a Dutch work visa”.

Why should other countries sign deals with the United States when this president is breaking **his own deals** after less than 6 months? www.reuters.com/world/europe...

There’s a Canada Street in Auckland and it recently got bike lanes!

Voici la carte du réseau cyclable de l'arrondissement Villeray Saint-Michel Parc-Extension en 2012! Il y avait seulement 3 pistes pour le deuxième plus populeux arrondissement de Montréal!

Someone posted a Montreal bike map from 2004 and it is *amazingly* sparse. Just one full north-south route in the central city (Berri→Brébeuf→Boyer→Christophe-Colomb). No east-west routes through downtown (full De Maisonneuve was 2007). But a few areas (like Saint-Leonard) have barely improved!

this was a super satisfying watch. "people aren't just interested in ranking cities and declaring which ones are 'great'… people who are invested in their city… also want to see examples, models, and stories that are useful to them in advocating for and proving the place they call home."

Lots of people saying: “why do you hate trams?”. They’re fine. I don’t hate them. Nicer ride than buses. I just wasn’t wowed by Dutch trams in the way that I was for the cycling (or intercity trains). I mainly took them when I didn’t have access to a bike.

Ça roule assez bien sur le REV Henri-Bourassa ce matin. #velomtl #polmtl #REVMTL #Ahuntsic #Montréal

People talk a lot about the Nordic model but it’s cool that there’s already an example of a welfare state right here in North America. It’s not quite Nordic. But Quebec has cheap tuition, subsidized daycare, strong parental leave. Healthcare, obviously. Would be cool to make a video about.

I found the anti-Twitter stuff a little overdone when BlueSky started out, but over time my feed over there evolved into being genuinely quite disturbing. Last time I logged in to take a screenshot of an example (few weeks ago), I immediately saw this said to someone I know.

People support him because he reflects their values and character. He reflects their souls.